Frederick, SD

It’s a joy to see how the projects we conceived and planned in both Study Circles and LeadershipPlenty are coming into being through the direct efforts of the Strategic Plan committees.  It’s also a blessing to see how the individuals who have been a part of the Horizons program are affecting a wider audience.  Every Sunday after worship at St. Paul’s Lutheran in Frederick, members of the congregation gather for coffee and bars.  The women gather at tables on one side of the basement and the men at tables on the other side in a tradition that I found quaint and sweet when I first moved here 5 years ago.  I now see it as a very effective way for us to share ideas and cook up projects that might not necessarily emerge in a mixed group.  One of the earliest of these was the Frederick Lounge cleanup project last December.  That started at coffee and took off like a rocket.  We’re still working with the Frederick Lounge board on the next step for regaining use of the building for a business and/or cafe. 

 Another project that started with the “church basement ladies” was having someone to be a greeter for our worship services on Sunday.  Not that it’s a new idea, but we put it in motion.  It’s a nice co-action with the Welcome Wagon activities of the Horizons strategic plan.

 Another sharing of the wealth has come from efforts by one of the LeadershipPlenty instructors to bring sound leadership and planning principles into a local organization they attend.  The beauty of this is, once you learn something and see how effective it can be, it’s a part of your skillset to be applied everywhere you show up.  This will be the legacy of Horizons long after the program ends in June.

I recently emailed a person who was previously active in the community Horizons program that I hadn’t seen in a while.  I told her we missed her and hoped all was well.   She indicated she had been quite ill and also busy. but the additional information she provided generated an “Ah-ha” moment that made the light bulb go off for me.  Her comment was about a recent meeting for the Community Store in Frederick and the only notification she had received was in her mailbox the day of the meeting.  She indicated that she is a planner and if someone wants her participation she needs more notification then a day or two.   It occurred to me that I didn’t know any of the needs of the volunteers I was working with nor did they know mine.  We took inventory of the talents and skills we have in our community, but we didn’t take inventory of their needs as a volunteer.  We didn’t ask if there are circumstances or conditions that they work best under.  These are extremely important bits of information to know and review every now and again.  While we may not be able to accommodate all of the needs of all of the volunteers, we can at least make more of an effort to be aware of those needs.

I know I’ve sent out email reminders to people about a meeting that was either the next day or maybe even that day.  For those that knew about the meeting previously, this is a good thing and probably helpful, but for those that didn’t know the date in the first place, they have little time to make arrangements to fit this into their schedule.   In the case of the Community Store meeting, shareholders were aware of the meeting because they were mailed a notice a week or two ago, but those that are not shareholders would have only known about the meeting via the www.fredericksd.com website or maybe a poster in the store.  I know I’ll try to be more aware of not just this volunteer’s needs, but others as well.

Our monthly meeting was held on Sunday Feb 17th, I was so impressed that we had over 20 people there and even saw a few new faces. We talked about how to keep the momentum going on the projects that were laid out in our strategic plan. One of the things we have to do is keep the community informed on all the progress that has been done and what we are currently working on. The Project committee Chair/Co-Chairs presented a short list of things that will be worked on by the next meeting.
These are the Project Chairs/Co-Chairs
Business Develement - Marilyn Podoll, Janet Burkhart, Scott Campbell & Shirley Anderson
Secret Garden - Dale Groop, Dan Nickelson, Jim & Kay Durmire
Simmons Park Development - (still need someone)
Inflatable Theater Board - Tonya Zinter & Donna Sumption
Welcome Wagon - Connie Groop
Marketing Committee - Tracy Olson, Tamie Nickelson
Housing - Janet Burkhart
Finn Fest - Stacey Sumption, Stephanie Sumption, Kay Dumire
Helping Hands - Pat Mikkonen & Donna Sumption

If you are interested in being on any of these projects please let us know, We will be contacting those that signed up to help on projects during our study circles.
We will also be forming a Frederick Forward Board of Directors to oversee these committees.

So Please mark your calendars for the next Horizon meeting March 17th, 2008 Watch the Frederick web site fredericksd.com
for any change in the meeting date and time.

Trying to plan for a community dinner is difficult when you don’t know how many will be coming! We planned for 3 big roasters of soup and it was well received at the event on Sunday. We had about 85 attend but were also able to share some of the goodness with those who were not able to join us for the dinner. Donna took some to the elevator; we scooped up several containers to share with others in town. Extra pie was sent to the Community Store to go with the Monday morning coffee. Thanks to all who helped make it possible.

It’s always amazing to see how good planning makes an event like this happen. Food was very tasty; the Northern Lights building was gaily decorated and the local Horizons speakers stepped up to explain different parts of the our strategic plan. Being part of the group that explained what our plans are helped making everything concrete. I helped explain that in our community study of poverty, the definition looks at a lack of resources. We’re concerned that our senior citizens need help with some of their daily living tasks and want to do a survey to find out how the community can help. We also want to prepare welcome baskets to extend hospitality to people new to our area. This will help them understand what businesses and services are available. Anyone wanting to help with these areas is asked to contact me at 329-2176 or Krysti Mikkonen at 329-2027.

Wow!! Yesterday was a beautiful day. Only in SD can you think 30 degrees is a beautiful day. But after 3-10 below zero for highs for several days it IS a heat wave.

Not only was the weather gorgeous, We had a fantastic turnout for our Strategic Planning Event. We had a Soup & Pie lunch before the meeting. We serve about 80 people and I think everyone of them stayed for the meeting!!!!! We had 3 kinds of homemade soups and many homemade pies that were soooo!!delicious that lots of people had to try all of them. We really do have a lot of good chefs in our community. We had babysitting available for those with young children, WII games and just good old fellowship time. We also had door prizes that we purchased from own local business and some donated door prizes. Our grand prize was a $100 beef gift certificate.

The presentation of our strategic plan went smoothly and from the comments I heard, we generated alot of talk about our vision for our town. Most of them were pleased with the ideas, some comments were “they are very reasonable goals and doable”
“lets get started” “I just hope the excitment continues so that when we need the extra hands we don’t have to go begging”

A big thanks to all that helped in anyway to make this a big success.